Do you still think that festivals are formal and traditional? Here are some strange festivals for you to enjoy.

Cheese Festival

This is actually an interesting game. In May every year, people from Cooper Hill in Brockworth of UK will join a crazy game. The host will push down a giant cheese from the top of hill in the beginning and give dozens of participants a starting password. Both the young and the old will try their best to chase the cheese. The person who catches it will be the winner and enjoy it. Some people think it is so dangerous!

Tomato Festival

Tomato Festival in Spain is the largest “war” in the world. Thousands of citizens will go to the street and throw tomatoes at each other at the end of August each year. Even the tourists from around the world who are attracted to this festival also join the “battle”. Tons of tomatoes will be consumed within one hour.

Monkey Festival

In December every year, the people of Thailand invite about 600 local monkeys and prepare a rich feast with fruits and vegetables for them in order to honor the Monkey Ally in myth that helps Lopburi. It will consume 3000 kg of vegetables and fruits in this festival every year.

Night of the Radishes

On the night of Dec. 23rd every year, when most of people are wrapping presents, indulging in mulled wine and hanging up tinsel, the residents of Oaxaca City in Mexico celebrate the festive season with their annual “Night of the Radishes”. The contest of radish carving takes place in Oaxaca, Mexico. It’s to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The festival began in 1897. The winner gets their picture in the newspaper.

How's your vacation？I'm visiting my uncle in Spain. He lives in the sunny and beautiful city of Valencia, in Spain.

Yesterday, I had great fun. My uncle took me to the tomato festival in Bunol, which is just 30 miles away from where my uncle lives. You have probably never heard of this festival before. Neither have I. The tomato festival is called “La Tomatina” in Spanish. It was the biggest and messiest tomato fight in the world. When we first got to the square where the festival took place, it was very crowded with people from all around the world, and many trucks were carrying tomatoes. My uncle told me the crowded people here were around 38,000 and this was more than four times the population of Bunol.

The tomato fight started as soon as the first banger was beaten. Then everyone including me started throwing tomatoes at each other. I took red tomatoes and threw them at anyone that ran，moved，bent down，or turned around. Tomatoes must be squashed(捏扁)before people threw them in order not to hurt anybody.

After a little while, the streets, people and nearby buildings were splashed(溅起)with red. There was no winner in this fight, but we all had fun. As soon as a second banger was beaten, people stopped throwing.

I really had a great time. I wish you were here, too. I hope I hear from you soon. Take care.

From Spain

Linda

The second Sunday in May is Mother’s Day. American children of all ages give their mothers something special. Children, young and old, try to show their love to mothers on the day. However, do you know that Mother’s Day celebration is not a recent thing?

The UK was the first country to set a day for mothers. In the United States, Mother’s Day became an official holiday in 1914. An American girl, Anna, asked their governor to set a festival for mothers that they loved. Therefore, they set the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day and a year later all the other states celebrated it.

In the morning of Mother’s Day, some American children serve their mothers breakfast in bed. Other children will give their mothers presents which they make themselves or buy in stores. Adults give their mothers red carnations (康乃馨), the official Mother’s Day flower. If their mothers left the world，they may bring white carnations to their grave sites (墓地). This is the busiest day of the year for American restaurants. On this special day, family members do not want their mother to cook dinner!